NCIS: Exposed
by michaels-bed-bugs
Summary: When Vance allows for a reality show to be featured around his best team, things get a little crazy. What ensues brings about romance, crisis, chaos, and obviously a lot of laughs. Tiva, McAbby, Jibbs.
1. Prologue

**A/N: Hello, everybody! This is a collab fic with Melanie (SmellyThePirate), Kristen (dolphin6457), and Bridget (burningbridges97). Melanie will be writing for Gibbs, Abby, Vance, the klutzy camera person, and the germy camera person. Kristen will be writing for Ziva, McGee, Ducky, the scared camera person, and the nosy camera person. Bridget will be writing for Tony, Jenny, Palmer, the camera person annoyed by Tony, and the camera person who is a germaphobe. This story will contain Tiva, McAbby, and Jibbs. We really hope that you enjoy it! Please feel free to review/follow/favorite, etc! Thank you!**

* * *

_Prologue_

"Director Vance, can we, uh, have a word with you...I mean if you don't mind...?" asked a very nervous young man with a camera in his hand.

Director Vance spun around in his chair and turned to look at the young man before him. He was a average height and held a camera in his hand, but for reasons unknown to him. He seemed nervous and jumpy.

The young man turned back to look at the five others behind him. Hesitantly he looked at the Director before clearing his throat. "Well, we...ummm..."

"What this guy's trying to say," another person in the room started, throwing an annoyed glance at the first man, "is that we would like to do a television program on your agency. Sort of a 'day in the life of an NCIS agent', if you will."

For a moment, the room stilled, and it was like no one dared to say a word. Vance kept his gaze hard on the man newly standing before him before he finally spoke. "You... want to do a... _television program_..." he began. "Of _what _team exactly?"

The first man stepped forward next to the other, a bit braver this time. "Well...we would like to do a program featuring...your best team, sir."

"From what we've seen from your agency's website," a woman spoke up, "your best team is the MCRT, lead by Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs."

"From what we can gather, Director, that team has the best case record we have ever seen." the second man added.

Director Vance said nothing as he looked over to another man in the corner, who said, "Yeah, and we think this will be great for... you know... people."

The Director was silent for another long moment before he said, "So let me get this straight. You want to film my best team doing what? Everyday normal things? You want to follow them around and watch them be... _themselves?_"

"Exactly Director," the outspoken man spoke up yet again. "You see, we think this would encourage people to want to join your agency. How many applications do you get nowadays, anyway?" The nosy man inquired.

"That is need-to-know information, and you do not need to know," Vance snapped at him.

The first man gulped. "We, uhh, we didn't mean to, I'm uh, sorry for that, sir."  
"It's fine," Vance replied. He sat in silence for a moment as he considered this...proposal. Truthfully, he thought that this wouldn't actually be such a bad idea. For starters, it would definitely put NCIS's name out there - and there were already so many people that hadn't heard of them. Second of all, he would get more applications; and maybe this reality show would encourage other people to want to join NCIS. However, he still was a bit hesitant about them putting _Gibbs's_ team on national television. He knew that that particular team wasn't exactly...conventional. But then again, they _were_amusing. And that brought more viewers, which were much needed to boost NCIS's reputation and popularity. Now that he thought about it, maybe it was a good idea after all.

"Alright," the Director said, still glaring at them hardly, "let's go over this one more time. You want to film my team, make a program out of it, all to increase the reputation of NCIS?"

"Well, I mean," the nosy man answered, "of course, we would want a good amount of the profit this show will bring."

Vance continued to glare at him, shifting his gaze from him to the other people in the room. After what seemed like a few hours, but were only a few minutes in reality, he finally said, "One thing. If you film the team during work hours, you may not use any names or pictures of suspects or victims in any of their cases. Confidentiality is a must for this to work. Do we understand each other?"

Everyone nodded eagerly at him. The woman in the back piped up, "So, Director Vance, what's the verdict...?"

The Director looked at each person in the room, scrutinizing them before he made up his mind. Once he did he smiled weakly at them. "Yes. Where do I sign?"

* * *

**Thank you to everyone reading and reviewing! It means a lot! Thank you!**


	2. Chapter One

**A/N: Hey, everyone! So sorry for the long wait between chapters! We are all so very pleased that you all liked the first chapter of our collaboration-fic. Thank you all for your alerts and reviews. Anyways, here's the next chapter. Please leave a little comment/thought and enjoy! :)**

* * *

_Chapter One_

Director Vance and Jenny Shepard made their way down the steps of the orange-colored bullpen and walked over to Gibbs's team. The four agents were sitting at their desks, but none of them were getting any actual work done; they were far too impatiently waiting for any word from Vance as to what was happening. Director Vance had Jenny call them all together to discuss his new "project," and he wanted everyone from the team present. Jenny Shepard was currently Director Vance's assistant, and while she loved her job, she never ceased to hope that one day she could become the director of NCIS – not that she'd let anyone know that.

Gibbs, Tony, McGee, and Ziva sat at their desks, still waiting impatiently. Vance opened his mouth to speak, but before he could get a word out – earning raised eyebrows and glares from not only the cameramen behind him, but also from Jenny and the team – he decided to hold this meeting in Abby's lab instead. There was more privacy there, and already anticipating some of the agents' reactions, he figured they could release their anger in her lab without drawing attention.

"I want everyone in Miss Sciuto's lab," he merely said and then turned and left.

Gibbs was the first one out of his desk, hot on Vance's trail. Tony, McGee, and Ziva gave each other confused looks, but rose from their desks and followed everyone out.

Minutes later, Abby's lab was crowded, including Ducky and Palmer who had been called down there. She didn't like having so many people in her lab, but she really didn't have a say in it.

"Alright, everyone," Vance began saying, as though the room were chaotic and he had to speak over everyone, "there is a reason I called you all here. I have a very important announcement to make."

"You're retiring?" Abby asked with a huge grin on her face. Everyone turned to look at her, and she suddenly realized that it came out the way she hadn't meant for it to come out.

"That… didn't come out right," she said. "I didn't mean it like 'you're retiring?' – like a happy thing. That's not how I meant it; I promise. You know, sometimes these things are happy events – not that I would be happy if you retired, because you're like the best director ever, and I would be really sad to see you go, but… I meant it more like 'you're retiring?' kind of like a happy occasion, you know – celebrating and going out and drinking wine – not that we're gonna do that in a bad way if you retire, which you're not gonna do…"

Vance put his hand up to stop her babbling. "It's fine, Miss Sciuto," he said. "As I was saying… there's a reason I called you all here. I have an important announcement to make. Not a word," he said as he held up a finger to Abby, who was ready to guess again. "As you can see, this group of six people came to my office, asking me about a new television program centered on my best NCIS team."

"A television program?" Ziva scrunched up her face. "What kind of television program?"

"A reality show to be exact," Vance answered. "You see, with this new reality program, there will be a lot of people who will watch it and will want to apply to be an agent. We need all the help we can get, right?"

"I'm not sure I'm following," McGee piped up.

"In other words," Vance sighed, "this will be a reality show based on the everyday life of an NCIS agent. And we've decided that we want to base it on the best team NCIS has, which is Team Gibbs. Starting next week, the camera crew will be following you each and every one of you after work to record you doing everyday things. After that week they will be following your team as a whole in the squadroom, the lab, autopsy, etc."

Abby's eyes lit up. "So we're gonna be on TV?" she asked excitedly.

"That is correct, Miss Sciuto."

She didn't say anything, but she was visibly holding back a squeal of excitement. "There are, however, some things that I must warn you all about," Vance continued. "Confidentiality is a must. That means that while the camera crew is filming you during work hours, you must not reveal the names of suspects or victims or show their pictures. Everything will be edited before it's aired anyway, but even so, you must keep this in mind."

Everyone wore a different look on their face. It was predictable and yet strangely unpredictable – except for Abby, who made it more than obvious that she was excited about it. "Miss Sciuto," Vance turned to Abby. "Do you have a pen and a piece of paper?"

"Yes, Director!" she said as she scrambled off into her office to go search for that. She came back out a few seconds later with a pen and a notepad and handed it to Vance.

On the note pad, he made a numbered list. "I'll pass this list around and each of you will sign your name in the order you want to be taped. I will go first, so I'm writing my name down on number one." Before he could hand the notepad to someone else, Abby quickly snatched it away from him and wrote her name down second. After her, Tony took it away from her and put his name down third. No one snatched it away after he signed his name. "After you're all done signing your names, I want the list handed back to me," Vance instructed. "I'll leave you all to decide." He gave them a small nod, and then signaled the camera crew to follow him out of the lab.

For a moment, there was complete silence, until –

"Oh, come on," Tony groaned, a hint of laughter in his voice. "You guys gotta admit that this awesome! We're gonna be on TV! We're gonna be famous! That's everyone's dream, isn't it?"

McGee shrugged and took the notepad from Tony and signed his name fourth. "This is not cool, DiNozzo!" Ziva exclaimed. "We are going to have six irritating camera people following us practically 24/7. There is nothing cool about that."

"Name one thing that's not cool about this," Tony said.

"Lack of privacy?!" she retorted incredulously. Half of her was not surprised he hadn't thought about that, and half of her couldn't help but be shocked.

"Okay, that's true, I'll give the ninja that one," he agreed with a nod. "But still – you're gonna be freaking famous! People will want to meet you, get autographs, pictures with you...Who cares about a slight lack of privacy!"

"Slight?!" Ziva raised her voice at him. Before she could continue, though, Gibbs stormed out of the lab. Everyone could see that he didn't take the elevator – a sure sign that he was beyond angry.

"Wow, he's not taking this well," Tony pointed out. "I mean, it's not much of a surprise...anyway, you better put him far down on the list." McGee nodded and scribbled Gibbs's name down next to where the number five space was on the notepad.

"I don't know about you guys," Jimmy said, "but this could be really cool. Put your name out there, and show everyone how lucky they are to be joining NCIS."

"Yes, Mr. Palmer, I'm sure that's great and all, but in the end, what's in it for us? Telling our life stories for all to see?" Ducky put in.

Tony scoffed. "Money, of course. Hey, maybe I could finally buy that Ferrari..."

"And a lot of cute girls asking you out on a date," McGee added, to which Abby shot him an evil look.

"It's not all about money and girls, you know," Jenny said. "I know not all of us are fond of this idea, but if we do this right, we can get the most of this experience. It should be fun and educational, right? We're going to be encouraging others to join NCIS and put the bad guys behind bars."

Ziva shook her head. "I do not like this idea," she said as she paced around the room. "And I hate to say it, but I do not think that there is a way to get out of this one. I, for one, will not hesitate to use my knife on any of them if they irritate me. I might have a badge now, but I can easily revert back to my Mossad days. Privacy is very important to them, as it still is to me. If they go diving around in places they should not be..." She stopped pacing and everyone saw her absentmindedly put her hands on her hips - where she always had a sharp blade concealed.

Tony grinned and winked playfully at her. "Nice! But it's delving Ziva, not diving. I mean, you're still sexy now, of course, but before you were like..."

Ziva's jaw dropped as she hit him in the chest. They stared at each other for a moment - partly daring each other to make the next move, and partly because the realization of what Tony just said began to dawn on them.

Abby looked from Tony to Ziva, who seemed to be in their own flirtatious bubble. Trying to break it up gently and move on, she spoke up. "So, do you want to go after Gibbs, or…?"

Ziva turned to look away from Tony after a few moments and looked at Abby. She snapped back into this new reality - no pun intended - and how angry it made her. "Fine," she said with a roll of her eyes. "Put me on the damn list."

Abby added Ziva's name to the list, and soon, added everyone else. The order was: Vance, Abby, Tony, McGee, Gibbs, Ziva, Ducky, Palmer, and Jenny. Except for Tony and Abby, not everyone was content with the order their taping would be going. They knew Gibbs would not be happy being number five on the list, but being taped was inevitable. Either way, he had to do it.

When everyone left, Abby grabbed Bert and gave him a huge squeeze. "Guess what, Bert!" she said. "We're going to be on TV! I know you're excited and all, but you have to promise you'll behave, got it?" She squeezed him again and he farted. "Good boy," she said and set him down. He was probably almost as excited as she was about the whole thing.

* * *

Ziva sighed and ran a hand through her hair as she made her way up the stairs. She knew that re-tracing somebody's steps was the best way to find someone efficiently - especially if one did not know where that person was headed. At the top of the steps she found Gibbs, leaning against the wall of the gray stairwell, looking away as if he was deep in thought. She sat down a few steps below him and leaned against the railing in silence. She knew he would speak when he was ready. And he did - sooner than she thought he would, actually. "What the hell is Vance thinking?!" he yelled out loud, not to her in particular - she knew that.

"I do not know, Gibbs. Either way, that does not matter, because it is happening. Think of it as a way to give back, to inspire other people. Or take it as a compliment that, as dysfunctional and unorthodox as our team can be, we are the best." She was silent as she saw the anger fade slightly from his face. She could see in his eyes though that something else was there, too. Something besides anger.

"This is about Kelly, is it not?" Gibbs turned to look directly at her, and for once his face was completely readable. "She wanted to be on television." He nodded in response. Ziva sighed as she again ran a hand through her hair and looked into his eyes. She wasn't talking to her boss right now. She was talking to someone - a father, really - who needed her, whether he would admit it or not. "Gibbs...I am sorry. Kelly...she would probably love the idea of her father being on television, if only agreeing to it because she could not. Do it for her. Make her proud. Mention her name. If you want, maybe we could arrange a dedication. We could talk to the Director or Jenny. I am sure they would understand."

Gibbs smiled half-heartedly and put a hand on her knee. He leaned in toward her and kissed her forehead, his hand lingering on her cheek for a moment. "Thank you, Ziver." He pulled away and stood up, followed closely by Ziva. She nodded in acknowledgement. "I'm going to have a talk with the Director," he said to her, smiling slightly as he continued up the next flight of stairs, leaving Ziva standing near the top of the steps. She knew this was something he had to do alone.

* * *

Vance sat back in his desk chair behind his mahogany desk, waiting for Gibbs to come bursting through the door. He knew Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs well by now; he saw that look flash across his face as he took in the news. After a few moments, as expected, the silver-haired agent burst through the door and went to stand before the desk. He had an unreadable expression on his face, which genuinely surprised Vance.

"Yes, Gibbs?"

"One condition."

Vance chuckled. "Gibbs, I believe that I-"

"One. Condition."

Vance stared at Gibbs for a moment before speaking again. "What?"

Maintaining eye contact, Gibbs relayed his demands. "I want to dedicate, at least my part of it, to Shannon and Kelly. She...she always wanted to be on television."

The Director looked away for a minute, lost in thought. When he turned back to look at Gibbs, he tapped his fingers on the desk a few times before speaking. "Let me talk to Jenny Shepard and the producer. I'll see what I can do."

Gibbs nodded at him and left the office. Over the balcony he could see his team together in the bullpen, their mainly-pity party having been moved up there. As he watched them, he thought Vance was crazy for wanting to film them. Nevertheless, he thought, It's going to be one hell of a show.


	3. Chapter Two

**Disclaimer: We don't own NCIS...**

**A/N: Hi everyone! We are so sorry for the long waits between chapters. We try our hardest to write, edit, and post them for you, but we want to make sure they're written well for you readers. We thank you so very much for reading and having patience with us as we work on new chapters. Please leave a review if you like the story! It doesn't have to be long, just a sentence or two. If you have any suggestions or questions don't hesitate to ask!**

**Also, in our story Director Vance is the head of NCIS and Jenny Shepard is the Assistant Director. Sorry for any confusion. **

After Gibbs turned and left the Director's office, Vance waited a few seconds before he stepped out of the room and outside to Jenny's desk.

"Director Vance. What can I do for you?" Jenny asked, smiling at the man before her.

"I'd like to ask you about something, Miss Shepard," he said. "An opinion, if you will."

She was curious now; although the Director was generally a thoughtful superior, he did not usually go to her for advice. She looked up from her paperwork. "Yes? Is everything okay, Director?"

"Everything is fine; no need to worry," he assured her. "I was just speaking to Agent Gibbs, and he... well, about this new reality series, he told me he would like to dedicate a part of it to both Shannon and Kelly, his late wife and daughter. I was wondering - if we both agree to give him the okay on it - if you think it should be done?"

Whatever she was expecting the Director to say, she certainly wasn't expecting that. When she thought more about Gibbs's request, she realized it actually wasn't a surprise at all. It made sense for him to want to dedicate his portion to Shannon and Kelly - and she couldn't help but be a little bit proud of him. "I think...I think it is a great idea, Director. First of all, it'll get him to cooperate." She chuckled. "I think it also might boost the ratings - that is sentimental, and reality TV fans thrive on that."

Vance nodded a little to himself, briefly lost in thought, but quickly bringing his attention back to her. "He said that Kelly always wanted to be on television... You really think that this will help boost our ratings, Miss Shepard?"

"I do, Director. I think it would help boost the ratings, because there will be a lot of humor in this show. I think this dedication would help show a different side of NCIS agents. I think it will show that while we can be tough and comedic, we also have a gentle, kind of vulnerable side. At least, I think so. Has the producer given us the green light on this?"

The Director nodded, internalizing Miss Shepard's words. "The producer said that if we both gave the go-ahead then he was up for it."

Jenny nodded and smiled a little. "That's great to hear, Director. In that case, I definitely think we should do it. It might help Agent Gibbs have a little bit of closure, don't you think?"

Vance looked directly at Miss Shepard. "I do. Honestly though, I don't think he will ever be able to completely move on from it. If anything like that happened to Jackie, Kayla, or Jared..." he trailed off, lost in thought. Jenny Shepard's words brought him back into focus.

Jenny looked sympathetically at him. She chose her next words carefully. "Try not to think about it, Director. If I may...just cherish each moment you have with them, and pray it won't be your last." Vance nodded and half-smiled at her. "As for Agent Gibbs...I do agree with you. I think it may help him open up to other people...or at least not keep everything to himself," she said. "This will be good for him."

Vance nodded at her a little and said, "Thank you, Miss Shepard. I will go inform Agent Gibbs immediately."

Jenny smiled back. "Glad I could help, Director."

When Vance went back into his office he sat down behind his desk, and was about to call for Agent Gibbs when the man himself walked in.

Vance almost jumped out of his skin and put the phone back into its receiver. "Gibbs," he said in a light warning tone, "don't scare me like that."

Gibbs gave him a lopsided grin. "Sorry, Leon - didn't know you were so jumpy today."

The Director glared at Gibbs, but the trained agent could see the hint of a smile on his lips. "I was just about to call you. I spoke to Miss Shepard about your proposal."

"What did she say?"

Vance smiled genuinely at Gibbs. "She thought it was a great idea and gave her consent. So do I, and that means the producers do as well."

"So that's a yes?"

Vance nodded. "It is. We have some legalities and contracts for you and your team to sign, and a separate one for you regarding the dedication." He reached down into his desk drawer and pulled out a stack of papers, handing them to him. "Have them read these through, fill out the forms, and then you bring them back to me as soon as possible."

Gibbs took the papers and gave a small smirk before turning to leave. "You never asked why I came up here in the first place, Leon."

Vance glared at him for a few moments. "Well, I was going to call you here anyway," he said. "And we will let you do the dedication part for Shannon and Kelly..."

"Yeah," Gibbs said with a small nod, "but you still never asked why I came up here in the first place."  
Vance sighed inwardly, clearly starting to get a little irritated. "Alright, Gibbs. Why did you come up here in the first place?"

Gibbs gave another lopsided grin. "I never left, Leon." Vance was about to open his mouth to speak, but he was interrupted. "I was outside the whole time. You just didn't notice because you were too busy talking to Jenny." He smiled a little again, much to Vance's irritation.

The Director opened his mouth to speak yet again - but before a word could be spoken, Gibbs had opened the door and left the office. Vance chuckled to himself. That man got on his last nerve, and to be honest he did the same to him...but for some odd reason the two understood each other.

* * *

Aside from the chatter coming from all sections in the bullpen, in Team Gibbs's area, it was quiet. McGee was silently typing away at his computer while Tony was tapping his pencil against his desk, supposedly deep in thought. But the noise was driving McGee insane, and he didn't know just how much more of the tapping he could take before he snapped.

_Tap, tap, tap..._

"Would you stop with the tap, tap, tap already?!" McGee suddenly burst out.

Tony stopped and looked over at McGee, grinning at him. "Oh, I'm sorry, Probie. Just trying to ease the deafening silence."

"Do you think you could ease the deafening silence in a less annoying way?" McGee shot back and rolled his eyes as he resumed typing at his computer.

"What do you suggest? Oh! Want a movie synopsis, or maybe a rundown of the all-time-"

"Tony!" McGee yelled, interrupting him.

"What is your problem, Probie?" Tony said as he rose from his desk. He didn't notice when the younger agent internally groaned to himself at this. "Why are you in such a bad mood today? I guess you don't really fancy the idea of being on TV much, eh?"

McGee looked up sharply at Tony, struggling to find a retort. "I...uhh..." Tony grinned. "I...no, for the record I do not fancy the idea of broadcasting my life on TV for the world to see. My life is my business."

"Just out of curiosity - and sheer curiosity, Tim - how many times were you given wedgies as a kid?"

McGee's face turned a shade red. "I, uh...I never got them." Tony looked at McGee with a smirk on his face. "Okay, maybe one." He continued to stare at the Probie. "Okay fine, maybe it was a little more than one. But what does that have to do with television, anyway?" McGee asked defensively.

Tony laughed at him. "Yeah, maybe a little more than one - like two, three, four, five - hundred. And I'm asking you because I'm sure you were a little wimpy kid, who wanted to keep everything to himself and have an actual private life." He rolled his eyes. "Come on, McTim. This is something new, something exciting! You'll be recognized everywhere you go! Now you'll actually be someone! You'll be saving the world by putting bad guys in prison, and you'll be super awesome at the same time. Why so serious?"

McGee stared disbelievingly at Tony's words - actually, he could believe them. And that was the rather pathetic, sad part. "Why so serious? Tony, do you not understand what this means? We will have cameras documenting our every move, our every conversation. They'll have recordings of Gibbs slapping you, or maybe even of Ziva slapping you. They will have full access to every part of our lives. Why would you want that?!"

"Because it's fun!" Tony answered. "And in case you haven't noticed, Tim, I like attention! And for the record, Gibbs is the only one who can head slap me. Ziva will not be giving me any head slaps."

McGee smirked, seeing this as an opportunity to get back at Tony. "I never said they'd be head slaps from Ziva, Tony..."

Tony realized his mistake, but shrugged it off anyway. "So what? I just assumed. No big deal." He shrugged again.

McGee might be the least trained agent of the group, but he could spot Tony's uncomfortableness from a mile away. He chucked. "Really, Tony? I happen to think it's a very big deal. Seriously though, I'd think you'd be more into it after calling Ziva sexy downstairs, but..."

"Calling Ziva sexy?" Tony repeated. "Seriously, Probie? Is this your idea of fun? Do you just memorize everything everyone says so that you can use it against them? And so what if I called Ziva sexy? She's pretty... decent-looking."

McGee laughed. "You do always call me a computer, don't you? Anyway, to answer your question - no, of course I don't memorize everything people say - with the amount you talk alone I wouldn't have enough memory for anything else. No, I only remember the important stuff people say. And well...you've never done that before. So it is a big deal."

"Okay, first of all - ouch. That hurt, Tim," Tony said with feigned hurt. "And second of all, what have I never done before? People call Ziva sexy all the time. I'm part of people. I can say it, too."

"But you're not just people, Tony." McGee's face turned serious for a moment. "You know who you are to her. You're partners; you have each other's back. And as much as you've flirted lightly, you've never outright said something like that to her. Don't tell me it doesn't mean anything." He looked at him again and his voice got even more serious. "You can talk to me, Tony."

An uncomfortable silence settled between both men, despite the noise all around them, as Tony began to pull yet another mask over himself and build up more walls to shield himself from anything and everything. "You know," he said, a light hint of joking and seriousness in his voice, "I think this conversation is over. I think Gibbs is calling me anyway. Gotta go, McTim. Duty calls - and so does Gibbs."

McGee sighed to himself as Tony spoke and then walked over to his desk, taking out his phone to "answer" Gibbs. He knew Gibbs wasn't calling him - or they would've heard the ring. He knew exactly what Tony was doing - and there wasn't anything he could do about it besides be there for him when he finally decided to let his guard down. He hoped that this new reality TV show would help Tony lower his walls - at least enough so he could climb over them.

* * *

Ziva made her way to the elevators after excusing herself to Tony and McGee. They didn't ask where she was going, and she didn't tell them. She wanted to have a one-on-one conversation with Abby. When the elevator doors opened, she went inside and hit the button that would bring her down to the lab to see the woman who had become her best friend. When she first came to NCIS nobody was particularly fond of her - except, of course, Tony, who wanted to sleep with her. But Abby was...Abby. She still missed Kate, and so for a long time, she resented Ziva for being her "replacement." Soon though, they grew closer, and now they were the best of friends. She reached the floor and the doors opened. Ziva walked inside and was greeted by loud blasting music.

Ziva tried to call Abby, but the music was far too loud for anything lower than a scream to be heard. She decided that she was not going to scream (it was rather pointless, anyway), and walked up behind Abby and tapped her on the shoulder. Abby spun around and quickly reached for her remote control to turn off the music. "Hi, Ziva!" she said when the music was gone and it was quiet in the lab. "What brings you down here again?"

Ziva smiled at her friend's eagerness as she responded. "I just wanted to come down and...chat with you. That is the correct word, is it not?"

Abby gave her a look. "Yeah, you got it. But... why do you want to... chat? I mean, not that you wouldn't want to chat with me - I swear I'm not trying to sound like I'm full of myself; I just want to know why you would come down here to chat with me during work hours." She stopped talking at the look on Ziva's face - a look that said that she didn't understand half of what she had just said.

Ziva was confused, but nevertheless she smiled at her. "Let me try this again, Abby. I wanted to talk to you...in private...about our meeting this morning with everyone down here."

Abby nodded. "I see. I know you guys weren't very thrilled about the whole new reality TV show thing, but, I mean... it won't be so bad! It's actually going to be kind of fun! I'm already planning ahead. See, the first time, I'm thinking of pulling an all-nighter! I want to see just how much these guys can-"

Abby was interrupted by an outburst of laughter from Ziva. "I'm sorry, Abby. I just do not understand why...oh!" She said as realization dawned on her. "You want to have these cameramen show on reality tv that they can't stay up all night, right?"

Abby widened her eyes at her. "Uhh... no. I just want to see how long they can stay up filming me. That doesn't make me sound like the Wicked Witch of the West or anything, does it?"

"No, Abby! Actually...I kind of like the idea myself. Maybe we could both pull an 'all-nighter' together. I mean, if we have to do this stupid reality show we might as well-"

Abby gasped, interrupting Ziva. "Oh, my God, Ziva! That's a brilliant idea!" Ziva was just looking at her, confused. The forensic scientist went on, "I mean, I can't believe I didn't think of that before! We could totally pull an all-nighter together! Instead of one of us going to our house, we could go to the other's house, and we can stay up all night. We can drink caf-pows and stuff to help keep us awake - although you might need it more than me. I'm not calling you, like, weak or anything, 'cause you're definitely not weak or anything; actually you kick ass so well, and you look so-"

"Abby," Ziva cut in, "the point?"

"Right, sorry," Abby said sheepishly. "I was saying that we'll both need caffeine to stay awake, but we can totally pull an all-nighter together. You can even sleep with Bert if you want!" she added excitedly. "Well, I mean, not sleep with Bert, 'cause that's pretty disgusting, not to mention impossible, but I mean, you could just go to bed with Bert - WAIT! We're not going to sleep; that's the beauty of this whole thing, and-"

Ziva laughed at her friend's words. "First of all, Abby - I know what you mean! We will both need caffeine - I have not pulled an all-nighter since Mossad, and, well, I could probably use a little help. Secondly, and most importantly, no, I will not be sleeping with Bert - either way - because, a., that would be disgusting, and b., we will not be sleeping. So there is no need to worry about that - there is enough 'Bert' to go around." Ziva said jokingly.

Abby laughed at that. "Great! This is perfect! Alright, so we'll get lots of Caf-Pows - and tea, you like tea better than coffee, right? Or we could just get both, no reason why not, I mean except that it could get pricey, but I mean it's tea, so it's not that expensive, and then we have to get food! We could get all junky snack stuff, like chips and chocolate and popcorn and-"

Ziva interrupted - again - not that she minded. "Yes, Abby, I do prefer tea. But we could bring a bit of coffee with us as well. And we should..I cannot believe I am saying this...but we should go shopping to pick out what we want ahead of time."

Abby's eyes almost popped out of her sockets right then. "SHOPPING! Oh, my! I will definitely enjoy this! What do you have in mind? Oh, should we get bathing suits and stuff? I mean, that's part of daily life, and we could totally go swimming! What do you think? What else should we get? Oh, I also saw these shoes that I really liked in JC Penny, and I know that's not really relevant to our new series, but I really loved them, and if we're going to go the mall, we might as well get those shoes, too! What do you think, Ziva! Oh, my goodness, this is going to be so much fun!" She wrapped her up in an expected and tight hug.

When Abby finally let Ziva go she opened her mouth to speak. She was going to say that she had just been talking about food shopping and possibly stocking up on Caf-Pows and new pajamas, but the excited look on Abby's face stopped her. Oh well, how bad could a shopping trip be? Americans go shopping all the time, do they not? She smiled at Abby. "That sounds wonderful, Abby. Although I do not know what we would do with bathing suits. I did not think you had a pool."

"Oh, I don't!" Abby said. "That's the thing! We can go to the community pool or whatever. They could tape us there. That would be fun, don't you think?"

Ziva smiled at Abby. She was hoping she would have put a stop to Abby's bathing suit plans, but being the smart woman she was, she had managed to find a way out of it. "Alright, Abby. We could do that. We should work out a little bit though - I mean we will be practically naked on national television-"

Abby cut her off with another hug. "Doesn't matter! This is awesome anyway! I so can't wait till we start filming! Maybe we can go first! I don't know about you, but I can barely hold my excitement in right now!"

Ziva struggled to get the words out from the death hug Abby was giving her. "Abby...you are...not...holding it in..."

She seemed to realize that she was nearly crushing Ziva in her hug. She let her go. "Sorry," she said. "Just a little excited right now. Well, I'm glad we had this talk, Ziva. Now shoo, before Gibbs finds you and kills you."

Ziva smiled at Abby. "You know...I think you would be okay in undercover work...you can hug people to their deaths." She laughed at her own joke before acknowledging her. Then her face furled up in confusion. "Shoo? Is that like 'Boo!'?"

"It means go, Ziva," Abby explained. "Go back to work! I don't want you to get in trouble! So shoo!"

"Abby, we do not have a case." Ziva was reluctant to go - and Abby saw it.

"Sorry, I wasn't trying to kick you out," she said. "I just don't want you to get into any trouble with Gibbs for being here, instead of in the bullpen. If you don't have any cases, by all means, feel free to hang around here for as long as you'd like!"

Ziva smiled softly at her friend. "Thank you, Abby. It is just...I need to talk to you about something...weird."

"Something weird?" Abby repeated. "Define weird."

"Not normal, something someone did that was...unordinary."

Abby thought about that for a moment. "Unordinary?" she said, mostly to herself. "Well... what happened that was out of the ordinary?"

Ziva sighed to herself. She was not really used to asking for advice or confiding in other people, but she trusted Abby - and she needed another person's perspective. "It was...it was Tony. ...What he said today. I...I do not know what to cook of it."

"It's make, Ziva," Abby corrected her. "Not cook. And you're talking about when he called you sexy, aren't you?"

Ziva only nodded her head at the correction - she was used to them by now. "...Yes. I know Tony is a...'womanizer'?...or at least he used to be. And he flirts with women and calls them hot all of the time. But...but he has never...I am probably overreacting."

"No, no!" Abby encouraged her, even if just a little. "You're doing just fine. And I get what you're saying. You're not the only one who noticed. I mean, it's just... it's obvious, you know? You just gotta know where to look."

Ziva furrowed her brow in confusion. "What is obvious, Abby? I do not know...I am just talking about what he said today." She paused for a moment before continuing. "Are you talking about something else?"

Abby sighed a little dramatically. "Sometimes, Ziva, I really am convinced that you and Tony are the only ones who don't even know."

Ziva looked at her, not really following. "What are you talking about?" she asked. "What do Tony and I not know?"

"You know..."

"I have no idea what you are talking about, Abby."

"That Tony has feelings for you," she said. "You know... those kinds of feelings."

Ziva's face was filled with shock as her words registered. She did not know what she was talking about - no, that was a lie. She had noticed that she had developed some feelings for Tony that reached beyond the borders of friendship...but she never thought he felt the same. "What-what are you talking about Abby? Tony flirts with every woman over the age of eighteen who looks attractive enough. Before today he has never once flirted with me - I mean, besides when I first arrived from Israel."

"Okay," Abby nodded to herself. "I give you that one; Tony does have a reputation for being attracted to anything that proves to have boobs and a you-know-what, but... Ziva, you're not just any girl. You're not just some random girl that walked into his life for all but two seconds and then left. You're so much more than that to him. You two have been through so much together; you're both complete opposites, but you click so well. He doesn't just think of you as a partner, or anything. You're his soulmate, and he really, really loves you."

Ziva was confused. She was really, really confused. She could barely register what Abby was saying. Her mind was whirling with thoughts of Tony and their relationship. She had to give herself some time to fully process what exactly Abby was telling her. Ziva looked directly at her. "I...thank you for your advice Abby. I...I need to think about this...what you have said."

Abby grinned. "Okay. No problem. If you need anything else, you know where I am. Well, I'm not always here - sometimes I'm bowling with the nuns - and, yes, they really do bowl, despite what other people say, but anyway. You know where to find me."

Ziva nodded at her friend and smiled softly at her. "Thank you, Abby. I...I might just take you down on that offer."

"Up, Ziva," Abby corrected her automatically. "Take you up on that offer. And I'll take that as a thanks. So you're welcome."

Ziva nodded again in acknowledgement at Abby and turned to leave the lab. She walked into the elevator and, as soon as the doors closed, she hit the emergency stop button. She sunk down to the floor and brought her knees to her chest, her arms propping up her head. She was conflicted; she was confused. Ziva was shocked by Abby's grand revelation. Yes, she had always had some feelings for Tony, and there were a few rare times when she saw a hint of romantic feelings towards her from him, but in her wildest dreams she never - that was also a lie. She had dreamed about it before - not that she would ever admit it to anyone but herself. She didn't know what to do. She was scared - and understandably so. Her past relationships had never been successful. Still, she knew she would not be making any decisions right now - nor would she be getting any sleep that night. Nevertheless after a few moments she stood up, straightened out her clothes and put the elevator back into motion. As it reached the floor of the squadroom and the doors opened, Ziva felt an unfamiliar nervousness and excitement.

Tony was on this floor.


	4. Author's Note

Attention readers,

We're very sorry to announce that we're discontinuing this fic.

I'd like to apologize personally, since I was the one responsible for writing the next chapter, and did not do so in a timely fashion. We've become disinterested in writing the story, and decided it would be best if we just stopped. Thank you for sticking with us this far, following, favoriting, and reviewing. It's been very appreciated. If you guys would be interested, we may co-write some one-shots in the future. It's been great to see your reactions.

Again, sorry, and thank you.

-Bridge


End file.
